Doorstop Interview, Townsville QLD
1 March 2019
LNP CANDIDATE FOR HERBERT PHILLIP THOMSON: Thank you for coming today. I would like to welcome everyone standing behind me and in welcoming back the Prime Minister of Australia. He’s been coming to Townsville quite regularly lately. Also, Minister Reynolds. We’ve got George Christensen. Frank Beveridge, the candidate for Kennedy. As well as Frank and Ron, whose businesses we are here today and we’ve been speaking with. The Prime Minister loves Townville. He comes back quite a lot. Comes here when it’s sunny. Comes here when it’s raining. Comes here during a disaster and comes here to make announcements for our recovery. I’d also like to make mention, of another announcement that was in the paper yesterday. The following on, on Stage 2 of the Townsville water pipeline, which is our project plan, being awarded to a local business. It’s an international business, but it’s local here, so local people will be getting employed. And that’s something that we definitely need. You know, we’ve had a one in 2000 year flood, here in Townsville but, you know, we need to be having long-term water security. Because it will only take a very short time, once again, we’ll be in a drought here. So I’d like to thank everyone for being here and welcome the Prime Minister. Thanks.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks. Well Phil, it’s great to be here with you and all those who have joined us here today. There is a number of things I wanted to speak to today. Last time I was here, in this very… this shop, the water would have been over our feet at that time when I was last here in Townsville. And on that same day, with George and Ian McDonald and then Phil, we were in parts of Townsville where families were coming back to their water-logged homes. And we experienced, you know, the shock and the grief that they were going through. And I said that we would continue to stand by them as we moved through the recovery centres and we sat down with the emergency authorities. Linda who’s been back to Townsville many times and based herself up… Linda Reynolds is the Emergency Management Assistant Minister. To ensure we got the right recovery reconstruction plan in place. And that’s what we love doing as a government is to be there when parts of the country absolutely need us. But always looking to see how we can make all parts of the country stronger. On previous occasions when I’ve been to Townsville it’s been about the port upgrade. That was one of the first visits I made here as Prime Minister. And then there was the water plan and the water pipeline, both of which are key parts of Phil’s plan for here in Townsville.
But today it’s about how we’re continuing to support the recovery in the wake of the worst floods we’ve seen here in Townville. And not just here but across the range, right across north and western Queensland. The devastating impact and the speed at which those floods hit here in north Queensland was quite terrifying. And the impact both socially, economically and otherwise, has been quite devastating. And I’ve had the sad opportunity to see it firsthand and speak to many people who have been affected.
There are three stages to your response. The first one is the immediate disaster assistance payments. About $110 million worth of support payments have already been made here in Townsville, and across north-western Queensland. Payments directly to shires and councils to support the work they do. Payments directly to those impacted, and we sped up the process and the eligibility of those payments. In the first week of the flood, almost $40 million had gone out to support people straight away. And I think that was very important to demonstrate (a) we were absolutely serious in turning up for the people of Townsville as they were hit by those floods and elsewhere. Particularly, they got those checks in hand. So they can deal with the things that they had to deal with, to get back up on their feet. And so it’s amazing to stand in this business just a few weeks later and see them trading. And the stories of community support and customer support coming in and helping with the clean-up are just tremendous and, I think, go to the spirit of Townsville and the resilience and the family nature with which Townsville has responded to this crisis. Now those payment are done with the state government. The Queensland Government has stood up through Major General Smith, a coordinator-general for the flood recovery… disaster recovery process. The Commonwealth is working closely, hand-in-glove with the Queensland Government. I spoke again with the Premier again this morning. That process is about rebuilding roads and rebuilding rail lines whether its’s out past Julia Creek or here in Townsville. And there is the established processes for disaster recover that enable that to take place. And Linda has been our… on the ground here… a presence working with the Queensland state government to identify what those priorities are together with Michael McCormack, who has also come through on many occasions to ensure we’re working that through.
Today I’m announcing that we are increasing the Category D assistance, the support we provide to small business. That will increase together with the Queensland government from $25,000 to $50,000, in support for those businesses that have been impacted and had their business impacted by the recent floods. And they are to get in touch with the Queensland government because they manage this payment process. And I know that many of those business have been working through the process of their insurance companies. Because the insurance company payments and these support payments go hand in glove as well. And I know they’re working through that process. Now I’ve got tell you, and George Christensen has brought this to my attention here today. I’ve got to say that the response from the insurance companies has been a bit hot and cold in some cases. You know, I think they’ve been doing a great job. In other cases, frankly a bit iffy. And I want to put them on notice. You better show up. You better do the right thing by the people of Townsville and right across north-western Queensland. And I know there are many cases where that has been done. I’ve been giving them the benefit of the doubt. But I can ensure if they do not turn up, and if they apply blanket policies which seek to exclude people from getting the support they need and to try and get the insurance companies off the hook, I will not hesitate to take whatever actions I have available to me to make sure you do.
The third point relates to how we rebuild the north Queensland livestock industry. The way that this particular event hit north-western Queensland is unlike anything we’ve seen elsewhere in the country. We’ve got farmers going through the most horrific of droughts. Whether it’s in Queensland, where it’s been going for seven years. Or down where I was last weekend in Gippsland, in southern Victoria, where they’ve been for the last 18 months. But droughts happen in slow motion. In droughts, as Ag Force would be able to tell you, you will seek to manage and mitigate the impacts of the drought. You will destock, and there have been some good prices that been out there for stock and that can mitigate your losses. But in north-west Queensland, there were no opportunities for this. What happened in the space of 24 hours was to turn from hope to complete despair. As best as we can determine, half a million head just were washed away and are still dying today of pneumonia. So the ability to really build, what is a central part of Australia’s economy as well as our way of life, will take quite an effort. And it will take quite a long time. So that’s why after I return from north-west Queensland, I pulled together a Ministerial Taskforce. And from that taskforce we have agreed and decided to establish a Recovery Reconstruction Authority which will be headed up by Shane Stone, the former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, who knows more about northern Australia than I think most people. And knows it from the perspective of what happens on the ground, but also how to get the best out of how governments can respond. Shane bridges those two levels of knowledge and experience. He will report directly to me through his authority working with the Ministerial Taskforce, which will include the Agricultural Minister of course, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Linda, in her capacity of emergency management, the Assistant Treasurer and others, to ensure that the coordinated response we provide in north-west Queensland hits the mark.
So what’s the toolkit I’ll be giving to Shane Stone as he sets about rolling this support out? There are a number of parts to it. The first one is we’ve made announcements today that through the tax office: late payment fees, interest, all of these things, gone… gone. Everything we can do through the tax system to relieve the financial burden on farmers who have been affected by this natural and national disaster, will be waived and that will enable them to not have that immediate anxiety hanging over them, as they seek to deal with this crisis themselves. There’s a relief when it comes to how far management deposits and tax, and I won’t go into the precise details with you, it’s quite technical, but there’s a raft of measures the Assistant Treasurer has been able to put together - with the Treasurer - to enable the tax office to exercise its discretion to ensure that the tax burden that sits on these farmers is relived. And that goes through to very prompt payment where people are expecting bass credits. And so they can get that money out. We know that many of these farmers do have sums in their farm management deposits that they can access to actually help the rebuilding process and we want them to be able to do that without incurring the sorts of tax penalties they might otherwise incur. So that’s immediate relief and that’s on top of the $75,000 Category D assistance, which has been rolling out now for several weeks, for which we removed a lot of the bureaucratic burdens, which go normally through the disaster payments process.
The second part is to work with each and every station, to restructure as they see fit, as they wish to, their existing levels of debt. Now, that can be done through their existing banks and we will enter into arrangements to ensure that those banks will be able to provide and restructure existing loans at lower costs of clients with payment holidays for three years, lower rates of interest, which can help them restructure their debts to get them on a footing which doesn’t mean that that debt is going to hit them with cash flow issues over the next three years, and potentially beyond. But it has to be crafted for each and every station. And that’s what’s so important with the authority, is to ensure they can do that. Now where they don’t wish to do that with the bank or the bank is not providing an offer, which is suitable, then we’ll be able to provide the same assistance through the Regional Investment Corporation and the Australian Government will be in a position to step in through the RIC, to restructure those existing mortgages. I don’t suspect that will be the usual option, it’s there as a back-up option and there’s discussion we’ve had with the banks, then it’s quite likely that they may even be able to better the offer that might be able to be put in place by the RIC.
The second part is about restocking when it comes to debt. We will be providing grants to support the restocking of these stations. And that in turn will enable concessional loans to be provided, secured against the stock. Now, that will be possible through the banks because effectively we’re putting equity into stock as they’re being rebuilt. We will be providing those direct cash grants per head, which will mean that they balance can be borrowed against the stock and not against the property. When I was up in Cloncurry at the bowling club the other week that was one of the key issues that came across from the farmers. As we rebuild our stock, we need to be able to secure the debt against the stock, not against the farmer. There is just too much debt otherwise and it’ll hamper them from rebuilding.
So this is, I’d say, one of the biggest toolkits we’ve ever given anyone. To try and help rebuild what is an essential part of our economy, and in our Australian way of life in north Queensland. When I was stood in the town hall of Julia Creek I said we would deliver a significant package to help them get on their feet but you know it’s all about reconstruction. It’s all about rebuilding. It’s not about compensation. It’s about standing with each and every station. Each and every property. Each and every farmer. And working with their business to see them rebuild what they have lost. Now in speaking with them directly, I know how much they want to do that task but they know they need our help and I’m telling them through this package that help has arrived. And with Shane Stone reporting direct to me you’ll have someone who, through an authority, that will be agile and able to assist you as you form those plans to get back on your feet and they’ll be there with the package of measures that can help you realise your plans.
Now, I know that was a very long introduction, but as you can see there’s a very significant package that I’m announcing today and I believe it will do everything that is required to help north Queensland get back on its feet. But as further feedback comes through that process, knowing Shane as well as I do I believe he won’t hesitate to let me know. So Linda why don’t you talk more generally about emergency assistance…
ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS SENATOR THE HON LINDA REYNOLDS CSC: Thank you very much Prime Minister. First of all I’d say thank you for your very decisive and rapid leadership in this crisis response. Over the past month, I’ve had the privilege of leading the federal government’s emergency response in relation to all of these matters and I’ve seen the absolute best of all Australians in the most horrible of circumstances. And I just wanted to shout out, first of all, to everybody over the last month in this relief phase, who have everything from the ADF members who, despite the fact many of them have lost their own homes, have been out right across Queensland dropping fuel on fodder while leaving their own families to look after their house. From Centrelink staff who have been out and got $100 million into the pockets of people here in Townsville and right across the area. Through to the state agencies and of course the local shire councillors who’ve done an extraordinary job. And this has been... I think it is an unprecedentedly quick response to a disaster here. And my role has been to make sure that all of the Commonwealth agencies work with the state agencies and the local shires to get rid of all of the bureaucratic things that can sometimes hamper quick emergency responses. But now my role is transitioning as well from immediate relief to making sure that as the agency is stood up, under Shane Stone, that the Commonwealth departments work with state and local agencies to make sure we keep getting out the responses required. So we’ve got education responses, mental health and reconstruction tasks that we have to make sure that we keep getting right. So again thank you very much to everybody who has made this terrible disaster just that little bit easier to get through and start to stand up again. So thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, I’m going to ask Shane to just say a few words about how he is standing up the agency. And thanks very much Shane for taking this on…
SHANE STONE AC QC: Thank you Prime Minister…
PRIME MINISTER: You’re no stranger to a big job…
STONE: [laughs] A week ago I was having a quiet life and I thought I’d really done my last media conference a really long time ago. So all I can say is welcome back [laughs]. But as a former head of government I can make this observation. There is often a gap in between saying and doing. People have the very best of intentions and they make commitments and promises. But I just want to say about this Prime Minister, I mean we’re here, we’ve arrived, we’re set-up, we’re out in the field now and it’s happened every quickly, because this PM has not only been able to say, but he’s done. And it’s happened. And you don’t see it too often. And it’s given me the confidence to know that I do have the tools, I do have the authority. I have that direct line of communication, which is so fundamentally and essentially important when you hit log-jams, and you do hit log-jams, to make sure that we can be a part of a very effective reconstruction. It’s not about a hand-out, it’s about a hand-up. It’s about rebuilding the north. And it will take time. And it will be intergenerational in some cases. So Prime Minister, you made it happen.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks…
STONE: And Linda, and all the other ministers who were a part of that special grouping you put together. You didn’t mess around. You sat late into the night, you made the decisions that mattered to people. And we’re up and running. We’re away.
PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic. Now Ag force is here aren’t they?
GEORGIE SOMERSET, AG FORCE QUEENSLAND: Look from Ag Force Queensland’s perspective we thank you for being here Prime Minister. And thank you for this longer term announcement. The last few weeks have been spent just cleaning up the disaster and getting our heads around the size of it for the north-west beef industry and our communities. And this package gives us an opportunity to actually know that, there’s not… we don’t have to have it all sorted tomorrow. We’ve actually got time. And that Shane and the authority are actually going to work with the industry. Property by property, business by business, to work out what is the best solution. And we will endeavour through this process to actually create greater resilience and an even more profitable beef industry in north-west Queensland, because that is what the people out there want. We’re multigenerational farmers, who simply want to keep producing fantastic red meat for the rest of Australia and the world. And we will rebuild those industries through a package like this that can actually get livestock back. Get fences back up, get the livestock back. Keep our small business going and build our communities and bring the next generation forward. Many of our businesses have got three generations there currently and they’re looking for more generations of their families to be raised in north-west Queensland and work in that industry. So, at Ag Force we welcome the opportunity to work with you and to work with you Shane over the coming years, I suspect, to actually bed down what this will look like and how we actually help everyone in north-west Queensland recover.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much. Well the authority has not got a sunset provision, I should stress. It will be there for as long as it needs to be there, to do the job that it has and that job is pretty simple. We are going to rebuild, what was washed away here in north Queensland. Property by property, station by station, farm by farm, business by business, house by house. That’s what we’re committed to doing here and we’re committed to doing it not just now but for the long term. So I want to thank all of those who played a role. I particularly want to thank Minister Littleproud, David Littleproud, for the work he’s done as Ag minister. And Michael McCormack working with us so closely on the Ministerial Taskforce. So let’s take questions on everything we’ve announced today and then as usual, if there are other matters of the day, I’ll address that but I won’t burden others who are with us here, for this purpose, today, with those questions.
JOURNALIST: Mr Morrison, can you compel banks not to foreclose?
PRIME MINISTER: What we can do is ensure that if the banks aren’t prepared to do these things, then we can offer the same deal through the Regional Investment Corporation. But we can also do that as part of the underwriting agreement that we have to ensure that that is the terms by which they take that generic relationship with us. So in short, yes we can, where we’ve entered into an agreement on funding.
JOURNALIST: Can that be extended to farmers that are still in drought?
PRIME MINISTER: What we have to make really clear is that this is a very specific – and Ag Force might want to comment on this because we’ve had this discussion with national farmers – what we’re dealing with in North Western Queensland is quite unique. Quite unique. It’s very different, it was very sudden, and basically everything was washed away in a night. And so the ability to rebuild from that point is quite different. We will continue to work away on what we’re doing on drought assistance throughout the country. We’ve got a $5 billion drought fund which – and I don’t particularly want to make a partisan note on this, which the Labor Party voted against in the Parliament just last week, not to have a drought fund – amazing. But anyway, that’s for them to explain. So we will continue to provide that drought support and assistance in the many ways we’re doing that right around the country. One of the successful has been the work we’ve done with the $1 million per shire and on top of that, the on-farm water infrastructure which has been very important in helping those farmers and those towns actually survive through the drought. So I would say the two issues are quite separate because of the severity and the quite time-specific nature of the natural disaster and the national disaster that took place here.
JOURNALIST: Exactly how much money has been put aside for the reconstruction?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s open-ended. It’s open-ended. Because we still don’t know what the scale of the losses are. Station owners, farmers, still don’t know how much stock they’ve lost. We estimate in the vicinity of about 850 stations we will be able to support, that’s how many have come in. We’re not giving any money to multinationals or the big corporate farmers, they’re not part of this program. They have their own ways of dealing with their holdings and they’ll deal with that. This is the family farms and other ones and stations that have been there for many generations and we’re targeting them. So it isn’t… it is open-ended because it’s a process of rebuilding and what Shane’s Authority will be doing is literally going station by station with their own restocking, rebuilding plans and sitting down with them and the banks will be part of that discussion as well as how that can all be made to happen and the financing tools that will be made available under this package.
JOURNALIST: The Insurance Council has assessed the damage to be in the multi-millions of dollars, are you expecting you’ll be having to outlay that much money?
PRIME MINISTER: Well as I said, I’m not limiting it. Remember, the insurance estimates are based on different compensation responsibilities they have. See, what we’re doing is we’re part of the rebuilding process and insurance assessment is based on losses. What we’re doing is based on the rebuilding task and the rebuilding cost and that rebuilding cost will be the restocking of the country, the fences that are being put in place, the turkey nests that need to be cleaned, all of these sorts of things. And that business plan… I know these station owners will be drawing on their own resources to do that. I mean, some have tens of thousands in farm management deposits which they’ll be able to draw on and that will help them. The million dollars we’ve put into each of the shires has helped ensure that they can dispose of the thousands of carcasses that have been rotting on the ground as well as paying for the fodder drops that were so critical in those first couple of weeks.
JOURNALIST: You mention the interest rates and the loans will be [inaudible] done station by station, is there and amount you can say we can definitely reduce the [inaudible] amount they’re going to need?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it’s too early to say that. It will depend on what the existing financial arrangements are of each of those stations. You can’t take a cookie cutter approach to rebuilding North Queensland. Every station is different. I’ll give you an example. You go out to Gypsie Plains. They are right at the top of the breeding food chain, breeding stock food chain in Australia. It has taken them – Jacqueline, who has been out there with her husband – the last 37 years I think to get the herd to where it was before it was washed away and it dies of pneumonia on outcrops right across their property. And I saw where the carcasses lay. You can’t rebreed that stock in two years, that will take another generation to do that. In other places where they’re running a different type of herd, the turnaround can be a lot quicker. The price of what the sort of stock and cattle they will have to be getting on their property will be different to another. So I think we have to be careful not to assume you can just take a one size fits all approach to this. If you did that, you would do exactly as Shane said, you would rush to failure. And that’s why we’re taking a far more bespoke, customised approach to every single property.
JOURNALIST: As far as small business is concerned, I know that there have been some issues out west with businesses that weren’t physical affected by the flooding but there have been flow-on effects because there’s just no money in those communities. Will there be changes to the criteria for them?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes is the short answer. And that support now goes from $25,000 to $50,000 which is what I’ve announced today and particularly in those areas – and Shane’s Authority is going to help us with this – is working out how we can get rid of some of that red tape and bureaucracy and that was relayed directly to me in Julia Creek. But again, the impact in Julia Creek is different to what it is in Cloncurry it’s a more diverse economy, and then the other towns, whether it’s Huon or Richmond or the other places across the north-west. We’re just looking to be very, very specific to each town and each business.
JOURNALIST: Using stock as equity has been a long-time issue for graziers. Why is it now that we’re able to provide this to them?
PRIME MINISTER: This is the only way they’ll be able to restock. It’s the only way they can do it and that’s based on me sitting down directly with farmers and how they have hoped to achieve… we’re talking about people who have lost anywhere between 30 per cent and 90 per cent of their herd and their mortgages are already at a level where they just can’t go and borrow more money against their own property. If they want to restock – which they want to do desperately – to stay on the land and do what they’ve always done, they will need to secure these loans against their stock.
JOURNALIST: Even with their finance against the herd of cattle, there are still going to be graziers out there who can’t take on more debt. What assistance is available to them and could it be handouts?
PRIME MINISTER: Well there will be grants for stock and so that’s why I say it’s a combined approach. There’ll be grants for stock purchases, combined with concessional loans. And the grants for the stock basically put the equity in the stock which enables the banks to then loan against the stock. So this is… we’ve done our homework on this, we’ve thought through it very carefully. We’ve sat down with the banks themselves and worked out what we need to do, the wholesale funding costs, what we need to do on guarantees, what we need to do on equity to ensure that the whole package when Shane and his team come together and sit down with each station, how it can actually work for them.
JOURNALIST: Because the funding is so specific, in terms of eligibility, it’s for current and new agribusinesses, will there be a time limit on when they can apply for this?
PRIME MINISTER: No. As I said, this could take years. This could take years. And for many farmers, they’re still going through just the shock and the grief stage of what’s occurring in North Western Queensland. Some farmers haven’t even been able to return to their properties. Some have not, when I was there the other week, some have not ventured more than a few hundred metres from the homestead. For some days they couldn’t venture more than a few hundred metres from the homestead. So it’ll be done at their pace, it’ll be done with them and it will be done particularly with the local shire mayors and I really want to thank all of the local shire and council mayors all throughout North Western Queensland. They have done such a fantastic job leading their communities and they have been our touchstone for staying in contact with what was needed on the ground.
JOURNALIST: 850 stations, a personalised response for each of them. That’s a mammoth task.
PRIME MINISTER: It is.
JOURNALIST: Is more manpower going to be hired to do this or what’s the size of this?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Shane is standing up – it’s standing up right now – the Authority and he will get what he needs.
JOURNALIST: How much money are we putting to…
PRIME MINISTER: Well that actually is not the expensive part of this exercise. There are already numbers who have been seconded into this Authority as we speak, that’s already happened. We’ve already stood up and executive officer to work with Shane, they will have a presence here in Townsville and so the real challenge here is not finding the people to help do this, the challenge here is getting the stock and getting it purchased and getting the land in a position where that stock can get out on the pastures.
JOURNALIST: Are we going to be creating local jobs though as part of this Agency?
PRIME MINISTER: If we don’t rebuild the Queensland cattle industry, there won’t be jobs in North Queensland. And that’s why it’s so important and what we’ve done on drought, particularly through the things I mentioned before, all of that is being designed to keep the towns alive. Now some of the work that is done on the recovery side of this, as Linda knows, rebuilding some of those roads and rail links, that’s really important for the mining industry. And you know me, I support the resources industry in Queensland. My Government is very supportive of the mining and resources industry in Queensland. I can’t say the same for the Labor Party. Can’t say the same for Bill Shorten. But you’re working in a resources job in Queensland, you job is safe if I’m the Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: Just back to the manpower of that agency though, will it be local people that will be running that or will it be positons from Canberra?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh it’s a combination of things. It’ll be a combination of things but what is needed is the expertise and the experience and we’re obviously going to need some good local knowledge as well on the ground. So I’m not going to prejudice that, I’ll leave that up to Shane and his agency to make those calls.
JOURNALIST: Can you touch a bit on the mental health side of this announcement? $2.6 million.
PRIME MINISTER: The most important part of this is the Telehealth element under Medicare. One of the real challenges in delivering mental health services in rural Australia is… you know, these are tough people and they don’t often come forward. And so we need to make sure we can deliver the mental health services in the most agile, flexible, targeted way we possibly can. And that’s why a lot of resources going to the Telehealth side of delivering mental health resources into the community. And that’s proven to be effective in many other places. And that includes, you know, last year I announced money for HeadSpace to do exactly the same thing for young people. All the young people affected by this, people who are working on properties and stations and wondering about their future. But what I’m saying to everybody who is involved in the livestock industry in North Queensland is we are going to rebuild. I want to see it back where it was and I want to see that as soon as we can. It could take five years, it could take ten years. But I tell you what, we are going to get there with the package of measures we’ve announced today.
JOURNALIST: There’s damaging speculation Steve Ciobo and Christopher Pyne might be retiring at the next election. Have you spoken to them since this speculation has arised and can you quash this rumour?
PRIME MINISTER: I speak to them all the time.
JOURNALIST: Have you asked Steve Ciobo to delay his announcement til tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I talk to them all the time.
JOURNALIST: There is speculation that he’s going to be filling an overseas posting?
PRIME MINISTER: There’s a lot of speculation going on, isn’t there?
JOURNALIST: Don’t you think this is damaging for you, so close to the election though?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Do they just not want to sit in Opposition?
PRIME MINISTER: Well you’re speculating so you wouldn’t expect me to respond to speculation.
JOURNALIST: Is it a reflection though that those inside your own Party don’t think you can win?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Can I talk about the Pipeline?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: There is a window of time where if we build the station pipleline we can have $55 million worth of savings. Is that window closing considering the project planned tender…
PRIME MINISTER: Well we’ve been moving forward on it. George, did you want to make a comment on the pipeline?
GEORGE CHRISTENSEN, MEMBER FOR DAWSON: I could. Look, the announcement that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister made in regards to the second stage of the Townsville Water Pipeline is one that is the right thing. Obviously, you need to do the project planning to get it right. Not just the expenditure of taxpayers dollars but also the ongoing operational costs which Townsville ratepayers are going to have to wear. And we want to make sure that the pipeline is done in a way that the ongoing operating costs and replacement costs aren’t going to pose too big of a burden on ratepayers. Having said that, the company that has been awarded the tender has a local presence already, it’s very good to see. It’s not going to be just out-of-towners coming in telling Townsville people what to do, it’s going to be a reference panel. The stakeholders, I’m advised by the Deputy Prime Minister today, from the Waterford Townsville Action Group that’ll be part of a stakeholder panel associated with this project as well. But ultimately, they are tasked by the Government with ensuring that if there are cost savings to be made, that they must act quickly to enable those cost savings to be made. So that is a standing order from the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and it’ll happen.
JOURNALIST: What’s your reaction to news that Benjamin Netanyahu looks likely to be indicted on corruption?
PRIME MINISTER: My reaction would be not to sort of comment on matters that don’t directly relate to Australia’s relationship and we enjoy an outstanding relationship with the nation of Israel. And particularly my Government has demonstrated a support for Israel surpassing all previous governments. And I had the opportunity to speak on that in the Parliament recently and was grateful for the very kind responses I received both from the government of Israel and their Ambassador here in Australia. But also the many thousands of Australians of Jewish descent and Jewish faith. We are a proud and upstanding friend of Israel and always will be. We won’t be walking back from our relationship with Israel and our recognition of Israel. But it would seem the Labor Party is crab walking away from that. OK, thank you.
